The UConn-Pitt game was one of runs. Hot and cold spells. Nothing and everything. UConn went on a 13-2 run to start. Pitt countered with a 19-2 sprint. Then 8-4 UConn, countered by 9-2 by Pitt. And that was just in the first half. If you were looking for flow, consistency and rhythm then this was not your game. Ultimately, UConn made a final run to win the game and the Big East Championship, 61-58. Hats off to the Huskies. I would have to say both UConn and Pitt should get #2 seeds for the NCAA this evening. Let’s go to the game notes.
Before the game, the announcers tell us that Okafor will play and Villanueva will sit. Had that dead wrong. The Garden already sounds loud. There should be a an edge to UConn in the crowd, simply by geographic proximity.
Pitt wins the tip, but Taft takes a shot that misses badly. UConn runs the floor and Anderson off of a screen drops a 3. Page takes Pitt’s next shot, and isn’t close. Okay. Page has to shut down Gordon. And on cue, Page steals the ball from Ben Gordon. Unfortunately Krauser’s shot goes in and out. Then Jaron Brown steals the ball and gets it to Troutman for a slam. The next 3 minutes is all UConn. Pitt can’t make a shot or get a rebound. Gordon nails two deep (beyond the NBA-line) 3-point shots in a row. Page will have to go out further on him, if he is feeling it like that. Okafor looks pretty good, grabbing rebounds inside, and completely changing shots. There’s a TV timeout at 14:46, and it’s 13-2 UConn.
At 13:50, Jaron Brown makes another steal and lays the ball in himself to end Pitt’s drought. At that point, they show that UConn went 5-11 on shooting, and Pitt was only 2-8. Okafor went out of the game in some obvious discomfort. He doesn’t sit, they say to avoid having his back tighten up. Judging by the grimace on his face, I’d say it’s already tight.
Pitt starts getting points. Krauser hits 2 free throws, and Torree Morris comes off the bench to slam the ball down off a pass from Jaron Brown. UConn has troubles, despite a 14-23 rebounding edge. Taliek Brown commits an offensive foul and with the score 13-8, Okafor comes back in after only a minute and a half of game time rest. Pitt is now in sync. Krauser to McCarroll for an alley-oop. Brown has his 3rd steal and lays another one in. UConn is not making anything. McCarroll nails a jumper and Pitt has the lead, 14-13. McCarroll looks like he is feeling confident tonight. Okafor makes a jumper to briefly let UConn retake the lead. Then Taft makes a jumper over Okafor. McCarroll adds a 3-pointer for 7 points off the bench. Gordon, who after starting 2-4 is now ice cold misses another 3-point shot and Krauser takes it down and hits a runner high off the glass to make it 21-15 Pitt. UConn takes a timeout at 8:13 to regroup from Pitt’s 19-2 run. In that run, UConn went 1-6 shooting, while Pitt was 7-10.
UConn gets a little run going to make it a 2 point game, 25-23 with 5 minutes left, but Pitt takes control for the final 5 minutes. Jaron Brown is playing a magnificent game. It seems as if he is showing his complete game with defense, passing and decent shooting. Making a case for an NBA team to at least consider signing him to play in the NBDL. McCarroll seemed to have received a message from Coach Dixon after his performance last night. He is on his game.
By Halftime, Pitt has a 34-25 lead. Pitt shot nearly 50% while holding UConn to under 30%. Pitt shot free throws well, 5-6, and had a 22-8 point edge over Syracuse for points in the paint. Page had no points but held Gordon to only 6 points on 2-10 shooting.
The second half looks like Pitt might do it. For almost 13 minutes, the teams just trade baskets, misses, and fouls. Antonio Graves who has gotten some minutes tonight buries a 3 to give Pitt a 51-40 lead at 8:25. Then it all changed.
UConn scores 7 unanswered points before Page makes a steal and lay-in to make it 53-47 with 4:56 left. Gordon who did not stop shooting the entire game (5-12 in the second half), made another 3 and made all his foul shots in the second half (6-6). Anderson added another 3 (he went 4-10 shooting 3’s). Okafor added a couple more points and rebounds before fouling out with 2:19 left, and Troutman made 1-2 free throws to give Pitt its first points in almost 2 minutes, still holding a 56-54 lead. Even with Okafor out, Pitt couldn’t rebound. Anderson’s 3 at 1:58 gave UConn it’s first lead since the mid-point of the first half. McCarroll hits a jumper, and Pitt has the lead. Then a minute of nothing. Gordon hits a clutch jumper with 39 seconds left, and UConn has a 59-58 lead.
Pitt takes a timeout. Krauser has the ball. He is holding to take a shot. Everyone knows he will be taking the shot. He starts to drive then pulls up for a jumper with about 8 seconds left. It misses, but McCarroll gets the rebound. He takes a jump shot and misses. It’s a long rebound to Gordon who is fouled with half a second left. He sinks his free throws. Pitt actually gets the ball all the way down to Page who misses a 2 point (2 point?) jumper. The final 8 minutes, and UConn goes on a 21-7 run to pull the game out.
Final 61-58.
Ben Gordon was the difference pouring in 23 points on 7-22 shooting. Amusing that he eclipsed Allen Iverson’s BET total scoring record while having an AI like shooting night. Page just wasn’t able to contain him. I was surprised how quiet Josh Boone was this game. Only 5 points and 3 rebounds. Rashad Anderson kept making 3s at key moments. Okafor was more effective than I thought he would be — 11 points and 13 rebounds. Gordon, Anderson and Okafor had 48 of UConn’s 61 points.
Unbelievable that Pitt got 20 points from the bench to UConn’s 0, but still lost. Pitt had the balanced scoring 11 points for both Taft and McCarroll, 10 points for Brown and Krauser. Pitt only scored 24 points in the second half. They shot 10-26 (38.5%) and only 3-7 on free throws in the second half.
Looking over my notes and the game log of the second half leads to some disturbing decisions. Pitt’s outside shots weren’t there. Krauser, Page and Brown each had only 1 basket in the second half. In the first half Pitt dominated points in the paint with 22 of their 34. They got away from that in the second half, settling for jumpers and not getting it inside to Taft, Troutman, Morris or even McCarroll. In the second half, Troutman only had one basket (1-1 shooting, and 1-2 on free throws), and Taft only had 3 shots (2-3, but also 2-4 on free throws). I don’t know if I should blame Krauser at point for not trying to get the ball inside more, or Coach Dixon for not instructing the players to do so. That’s when Pitt loses. When they forget to get it inside.
Seeding Thoughts
Briefly, I have to believe that both UConn and Pitt will get #2 seeds. I think the ACC will end up with 6 teams in the NCAA, because there aren’t enough at-large bids — 34. Consider the multiple seed conferences:
Big East — Pitt, UConn, Syracuse, BC, Providence, Seton Hall
ACC — Duke, UNC, NC St., Wake Forest, Maryland, Georgia Tech.
SEC — Kentucky, Florida, Vandy, MSU, Georgia, South Carolina
C-USA — Cinci, Louisville, DePaul, UAB, Memphis, Charlotte
Big XII — OSU, Texas, Kansas, Tex Tech
A-10 — St. Joe, Xavier, Dayton, Richmond
Big 11 — Illinois, Wisc., MSU
Pac 10 — Stanford, AZ, Wash.
Right there, is 30 at-large bids. That doesn’t count Mountain West which will have BYU and probably Air Force as at-large bids to go with Utah. Southern Illinois and Utah St. will get at-large bids. Richmond is the only team listed that could end up being shafted.
